I have some ideas and questions I'd like to kick around concerning the replacing of the OEM fluid reservoirs. Too start, I picked up one of these to replace the undersaet rear brake fluid reservoir. Cool, hey? I will get some of that stuff---think they call it "tygon tubing" to run a line to the mastercylinder you see at the lower right in the pic.

First question: Will this work the same as the underseat reservoir would? This aftermarket reservoir is about the same size as the OEM reservoir. It will be located a bit lower than the underseat positioning of the OEM reservoir and the tube to the MC will be shorter. There will be a bit less fluid in the system because the tube will be shorter and possibly thinner ID. I am wondering if the higher reservoir with larger volume of fluid will make a significant difference in flow of the fluid from the reservoir to the rest of the rear brake system.

* Last updated by: Rook on 10/2/2013 @ 3:09 PM *

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I am wondering if the higher reservoir with larger volume of fluid will make a significant difference in flow of the fluid from the reservoir to the rest of the rear brake system.

Racing, they use a tube up from the master and plug it. Flow won't matter because you are pushing a locked volume into the line once you push the piston, meaning, closing any fluid entering or leaving. Your only concern is to have the level high enough to flow more fluid into the line when the pads wear and that void behind the caliper piston needing to fill that back up again... Looking at it that way.

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Your only concern is to have the level high enough to flow more fluid into the line when the pads wear and that void behind the caliper piston needing to fill that back up again... Looking at it that way.

just a matter of doing a visual check of the fluid level often....which is a little easier if the reservoir is out in the open.

Now here is the next question:
The aftermarket rez is the same diameter as the OEM front brake rez and I have thought it may make more sense aesthetically to have it swapped in for the little OEM clutch rez. If perchance, I should want to swap the aftermarket reservoir for the OEM clutch reservoir, I should be able to take the OEM clutch rez and mount it to the side of the bike, right? The smaller volume will not make a difference as explained above.

Racing, they use a tube up from the master and plug it. Flow won't matter because you are pushing a locked volume into the line once you push the piston, meaning, closing any fluid entering or leaving.

* Last updated by: Rook on 10/2/2013 @ 8:17 PM *

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You know Rookster...there IS a reason why the two reservoirs are different capacities...shape.

Oh really---do tell, Greenie!

I'm guessing it has to do with maintaining optimum temperature.

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I think the resevoir is just that, a place to store extra fluid, the smaller clutch comes in from the fact that clutch pads don't wear as much as brake pads so you don't need that much extra fluid for wear. The real work is being done on the other side of the master where the pressure is which is why you can take the top off to add fluid with no loss or air getting in system. If you bleed the brakes by the lever you can see how little volume of fluid moves in the system to operate the cylinders of the millimeters that they have to move to stop your bike. My 2 cents from what I understand is going on. HUB??

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So yeah move it and tell me how it works

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Bobby's got it. We have one slave cylinder piston that just needs to move so far, then when the wear happens, moves so far back. So the clutch only moves a rod so far, but does not need to feed 8 pistons, filling the back of the piston(s) as the pads wear, the piston(s) moves out. Those are your size differences. For the rear, I would have used the clutch size master res for the rear brake and keep an eye on the oil level as usual.

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"extra fluid for wear"....At my thinnest brake pad width...I still didn't need to add fluid. Interesting.

* Last updated by: Grn14 on 10/3/2013 @ 9:07 AM *

Grn that is just a worse case scenario or over exageration to make a point more clear.

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For the rear, I would have used the clutch size master res for the rear brake and keep an eye on the oil level as usual.

I was just kicking the options around. Actually, I am starting to like the look of the large diam front brake rez and the large diam shorty for the rear rez. The clutch will retain the small diam graduated bottom OEM rez. ...it is worth mentioning= however that the liter bikes with external rear brake reservoirs DO infact use a small rez much the same size as the ZX-14 clutch rez. ...The ZX-10 must have pretty similar brakes to the 14 so it would seem likely that a small diameter rez would be fine for the 14 as it is on the 10. I'll go with the aftermarket large diameter shorty though....it is actually about identical to the unsderseat rez that is stock on the 14.

So yeah move it and tell me how it works

I picked this pretty blue gem off Ebay for $18 American to China via Phillipes. Was here in about a week. Cheap. You could afford to buy one and try yourself.....only concern is materials???? Hope the plastic and rubber diaphram is high quality or I guess it will deteriorate and plug up the rear brake...but I'm betting it will be just fine.

Now next question:

If I mount the rear brake rez to the back of the muffler hanger as shown in pic #1 above, it seems possible that the fluid rez will be exposed to some extra heat from the muffler. That additional heat would not be encountered if the the rez was located under the seat as it is in OEM config. Think this muffler heat radiation could be a problem with maintaining proper rear brake pressure.....or will I need to find out the hard way?

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There looks to be plenty of air gap rez wise. As for the mount with the muffler tab, I'd separate that with a thick washer/spacer so that is more the heat sink before it travels to the rez.

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I agree, Hub. Glad I heard you say that. The rez will be a few inches away from the muffler...the main concern was heat conduction through muff mount to rez mount. I will just do a simple temperature test with my hand to see how hot the mount even gets. Might not be bad at all. The aftermarket zaust runs pretty cool. It will still give a nasty calf burn on a hot day after a hard run so I will keep my eye on it.

Thanks

Next step is to mount the thingamabob and then start looking for the Tygon tubing to hook up to the MC. Then it's remove the OEM rez and tube and hook up the new. Think I might as well take off the MC and paint it bright orange while I am at it.

brake bleed......gonna use the breastpump. 80 bucks already spent on that nifty gadget...no other choice. Will install the nifty new gold bleed valve back on the rear caliper too.

I walk up to this bike and it just looks so damn good. I can't part with it... maybe forever.

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